Civil War
by Murphdawg20
Summary: The assassination of Don Salvatore Leone splits the family into two factions. Will the infighting and a bloody war with the Yakuza destroy Liberty City's most powerful organized crime family?


DISCLAIMER: I don't own them, blah, blah, you know the drill. I just take them out of the garage every know and then to drive them around.  
  
Civil War Chapter 1: The Killing of The King  
  
Liberty City, New York March 12, 2004 22:18  
  
There were no more than a handful of people who knew his real name. His old boss had called him "The Cleaner." More often than not, though, he was called "The Kid." Of all of the goofy nicknames he was given, he liked being called The Kid most of all. Behind the wheel of a dark blue Landstalker, The Kid navigated his way through the streets of the Red Light District. He backed the SUV into an alley, and shut off the engine. He grabbed the sniper rifle from the back-seat and climbed a fire escape to the roof of a nearby building.  
The cool, night air brought a slight chill to his bones. The Kid hoped that he wouldn't be shivering while trying to take out his target. The target was an old boss of The Kid's. In fact, tonight's target was the very same man who had once dubbed The Kid "The Cleaner:" Well known Mafia Don Salvatore Leone. Leone had turned against The Kid after hearing news of an alleged relationship between The Kid and the Don's girlfriend. The Kid had narrowly escaped a trap set up by Leone's minions thanks to the help of the Japanese Yakuza (The Poisoned Fists of the Pacific Rim). Now, as ordered by the Yakuza, The Kid was about to end the reign of Don Salvatore. The assassin crouched on the roof of the building across the street from Sex Club Seven. The Don would be leaving the strip club soon.  
  
Inside the club, Salvatore Leone sat in a back room with Luigi, the strip joint's owner. Luigi was a fairly young man (only 38 years old), but he and the Don went back many years. Luigi had started working for the Don at the age of 13. It was the Don who had helped Luigi start up Sex Club Seven. Now, Luigi headed up the prostitution wing of the Leone Family. Tonight, Luigi and his Don were discussing a thorn in the side of the Family. Salvatore took a sip of his Jack Daniels.  
  
"That little shit can't hide forever. I promised the Cartel personally that we would take him out, and I WILL keep my word!" The Don pounded his fist on the desk for emphasis. Although Salvatore, no doubt, wanted to keep his word to the Colombian drug Cartel, he also wanted revenge on "The Cleaner." Maria, the Don's girlfriend, had, in a fit of anger, declared that she and The Cleaner (whom she referred to as "Fido") were having a fling. Leone sold The Cleaner out to the Colombians in an effort to settle the bad blood that the hitman had helped to stir up between the Cartel and the Leone Family (and, of course, to get revenge for the alleged affair with Maria). Before the hit could go down, though, The Cleaner and Maria had disappeared. They were rumored to be under the protect of the Yakuza on Staunton Island.  
Luigi nodded. "My people in the police precincts will keep an eye out for him. If he gets arrested for anything, he won't leave his cell alive. They'll make sure of that. Don't worry, Salvatore. The kid's days are numbered."  
Don Leone slugged back the last bit of Jack Daniels in his glass and smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear, Luigi.Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an engagement uptown." The Don walked toward the door, but turned back as if he had forgotten something. "Oh, Luigi,please send one of your girls up to my place in a couple of hours. I may be old, but I still know how to have fun." The two men laughed, and the Don headed out of the club.  
  
Outside, The Kid watched as a small motorcade of black Sentinels pulled up to the entrance of Sex Club Seven. He checked his sniper rifle to make sure everything was in working order. Seconds later, the Don's regiment of bodyguards began to emerge from the building and form a protective ring between the mouth of the alley that led to club's back entrance and the Sentinels. The Kid lifted his rifle, and waited for his target. Seconds later, Salvatore Leone emerged from the alley. The Kid centered the crosshairs of his rifle on the Don's forehead and fired.  
  
In the final seconds of his life, Don Leone could think only of his upcoming meeting with Toni Cipriani. With the Family waging a war against the Forellis, the Cartel, the Triads, and now the Yakuza; the Don and His Capo would have their hands full in upcoming months. Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by the retort of a rifle.  
  
The Kid re-centered the crosshairs after firing the first shot. He fired two more times.  
The Don looked toward the sound of the shot. The first bullet struck Leone just above his upper lip, and exited in a cloud of blood and gore just behind his right ear. The shot made the age addled Don stagger back. His bodyguards moved to pull their charge down to the sidewalk. Leone opened his mouth to speak, but the second round hit him between the eyes before he could make a sound Upon the projectile's exit, the back of the Don's head was nothing more than a wet, red mass. The third bullet smashed into the chest of one of the bodyguards. He had taken the final bullet for his Don, but that didn't matter. Salvatore Leone was dead before he hit the ground. One of the bodyguards looked in the direction of the rifle shots and spotted The Kid.  
  
"It's that little punk the Don's been trying to find. He's the shooter!" The guard pulled his gun from its holster and fired at The Kid's perch. The Kid, though, was already tearing down the fire escape. He jumped in his Landstalker and hauled ass. He weaved down the street avoiding both traffic and pedestrians. As he blew through a red light, he felt a sharp bump from behind. He looked in his rearview mirror, and saw a Sentinel trying to ram him off of the street. The kid grabbed an Uzi that he had stashed in the glove compartment earlier . He turned the wheel sharply to the right while standing on the break pedal. The Mafia soldier in the Sentinel stepped on his break pedal as well, but couldn't stop in time. The Mafia car broadsided the right side of the Landstalker. Before the soldier could recover from his daze, The Kid was spraying the Sentinel with bullets. The low-level Mafia thug didn't have a chance. The Uzi's hot rain of lead crashed through the Sentinel's front windshield and peppered him with holes.  
Knowing that he didn't have much time before the other soldiers and bodyguards from Sex Club Seven caught up to him, The Kid ran to the nearby subway station. He jumped aboard one of the cars just before the train sub- terranian train pulled out of the station. Now, he was nothing more than one face in a sea of faces. As he rode back to Staunton Island, The Kids mind raced. He was scared that the Leone's would have contacts waiting in Staunton to exact revenge for the Don's murder. His fears proved to be unwarranted when he stepped off of the subway at the Staunton station. The Kid took a taxi back to his apartment, and fell asleep as soon as he sat down in his armchair to watch late night television. Unbeknownst to him, he had started a chain of events that would lead to the most violent, bloodiest mob war Liberty City had ever seen. 


End file.
